| Baptist looking at all options
Facing tough decisions amid a significant decline in revenue during the first half of the 2007 fiscal year, Baptist Health System leaders say they would consider all financial options, including offers from rival Covenant Health. Since Baptist began searching for a partner in 2005 to improve its financial position, Covenant has been excluded from consideration because of anti-trust concerns. .
As premiums go down, pick up life insurance
The next time your party guests linger past your bedtime, ask them how they feel about life insurance. Watch that they don't trip over your cat as they sprint to the door. Nobody wants to talk about life insurance. But if you have young children or others who depend on you, you should have it. Millions of Americans have no life insurance, and millions more don't have enough to provide financial security for their loved ones. That's a shame, because if you're reasonably healthy, you can buy a lot of life insurance without spending a lot of money. Average premiums for individual life insurance have been falling about 5 percent a year since 2000, and they're expected to drop an additional 4 percent in 2007, according to the Insurance Information Institute. "The rates are as low as I've ever seen," says Byron Udell, CEO of AccuQuote, an online insurance broker.
Genworth Survey Reinforces Need For Greater Personal ...
The American Health Care Association (AHCA) and National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) today said the results of Genworth Financial's new "2007 Cost of Care Survey" - which found the average national cost of care in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and home-based care increased 15% since 2004 - should serve as a reminder to every American that they should begin planning for their own long term care needs, and take more personal responsibility for their retirement.
"The findings of the new Genworth study should serve as a wake up call to every American that the staggering costs of retirement can quickly overwhelm one's savings in a disastrous manner," said Bruce Yarwood, President and CEO of AHCA/NCAL. "With 77 million baby boomers rapidly approaching the age when many will require long term care, it is essential for Congress to pass laws enabling every citizen to equip themselves with the tools necessary to pay for and receive care in the most appropriate setting for their condition."
Yarwood commended Congress for recently passing legislation expanding citizens' ability to purchase state-approved long term care insurance policies.
16-03-2007: AXA to enter S Korea RM32b auto insurance market
AXA, Europe's number two insurer, has secured a foothold in South Korea's US$9 billion (RM31.57 billion) auto insurance market by announcing a deal on March 16 to buy a top domestic online auto insurance unit for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition of unlisted Kyobo Auto Insurance should provide a springboard for the French insurer to advance into other insurance segments in the world's eighth-largest insurance market, where an ageing population is likely to boost demand for long-term and health-related policies. Continuing deregulation in the country's insurance sector is expected to broaden insurance companies' coverage, prompting AXA to return to Asia's third-largest economy six years after it withdrew in 2001. Unlisted Kyobo Life Insurance, South Korea's number two life insurer, is selling its entire 74.7% stake in the online insurance unit to concentrate on life insurance business, it said in a statement.
Dingell, Clinton Announce Initiative to Expand Access to ...
March 14, 2007 -- Washington, DC - Today Representative John D. Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) announced that they have introduced in both chambers of Congress the Children's Health First Act, a major legislative initiative aimed at providing all children with access to quality, affordable healthcare coverage. This bill includes incentives for states to expand children's healthcare and identify and enroll uninsured kids that already quality for coverage under existing public programs but are not enrolled."This legislation has the potential to improve the lives of millions of children," said Congressman Dingell. "It's a disgrace that, in a country that spends $1.9 trillion on healthcare, nearly nine million children are without health insurance.
Wells Fargo Insurance Services Opens Orlando Office
Wells Fargo Insurance Services announced today the opening of its first office in Orlando, Fla. The new Wells Fargo Insurance Services office is located at 801 International Parkway, Lake Mary, and offers both commercial and group health and benefits insurance services, as well as extensive experience with the health care industry. Shawn F. Smith has been appointed Senior Vice President and Managing Director for the Orlando Wells Fargo Insurance Services office. Joining Smith are Kim McGee, Vice President/Account Manager, and Kim Zastrow, Vice President/Senior Account Manager. Smith has more than 17 years of insurance experience and joins Wells Fargo Insurance Services from Marsh. While at Marsh, Smith assumed various business development roles and was the health care practice leader for Florida and sales leader for the company's Orlando and Tampa offices.
Landmark Aids insurance breakthrough made
In what has been hailed as a major victory for South Africans living with HIV and Aids, the life insurance industry will no longer deny death and disability benefit claims in respect of people who die from Aids. The decision, which will affect thousands of people, binds all members of the Life Offices' Association, which represents 95 percent of South African insurance companies. It is in respect of all lump-sum death and disability benefits claims submitted from April 1 this year. Although HIV and Aids exclusion clauses for policies fell away at the beginning of 2005, the Aids Law Project has had thousands of complaints about policies taken out by HIV negative people prior to that date, who later contracted HIV. When they died, their dependents were denied a payout. .
Obama: Health system revamp could help pay for more coverage
Fort Dodge, Ia. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Thursday said he planned to propose a universal health care plan soon that includes federal subsidies for uninsured Americans, but he declined to say whether he expected the developing plan to require a tax increase.
The Illinois senator said during stops in the northern part of the leadoff caucus state that he expected to present in the next several weeks a specific agenda aimed at making sure all Americans were covered by health insurance by 2012.
Obama has said in principle he is open to raising income taxes to pay for domestic programs. But he stopped short Thursday of advocating a tax increase, arguing that money now spent on outdated medical record-keeping and expensive treatment for preventable illness could be used to expand coverage.
Peach crops fall victim to weekend freeze
It was the cold that killed the peaches, but unseasonably warm weather was the real culprit, according to local farmer Doug Spradlin.Spradlin lost 100 percent of his peach crop over the weekend — 2,500 trees in all. He also lost most of his vegetable, blueberry, blackberry and apple crops as a result of subfreezing temperatures Friday and Saturday night.Across the county, temperatures dipped into the mid to low 20s Saturday, killing just about everything that was planted early or budding early as a result of unseasonably warm weather through most of March."We were going to have one of the best peach crops in years, but I haven't found a live peach yet," Spradlin said Monday, pinching open a peach bud to show its brown, rotted center, which should have appeared green.While the berries could recover somewhat, and Spradlin is replanting most of his vegetables, the crop loss could delay the opening of his roadside produce market in the West Point area.The shop, which also sells homemade ice cream, normally opens in the last week of May, but could open weeks later this year as a result of crop damage, according to Spradlin's wife Sue.Spradlin said he will attempt to buy peaches to sell in his shop this year, but after hearing reports of failing peach crops in other counties, he said he doubted he would be able to find any.
Bureaucratic dispute could mean more people have to buy flood ...
Maps show landmarks -- but along the Red River, that will change unless cities and parishes spend some money testing levees. And if they don't, thousands of people could wind up having to get flood insurance. Most homes and businesses in Bossier Parish aren't required to have it. The reason is a system of levees. But now FEMA says it will remove those levees from its flood insurance maps unless the levees are checked to make sure they're OK. And if they are officially removed from the maps, more people would have to get flood insurance. Julia Crawford has never paid for flood insurance and doesn't want to start now just because the levee might not be on a map and because FEMA says it hasn't been inspected. "It makes me angry because I am a single mom and I can't afford extra money going out that I should not have to pay," she said.
What's the payoff?
A large projection screen unfurled in the ornately paneled courtroom. Lights flickered on the screen. Then came the action.
In a grainy, black-and-white video, state Sen. John Ford sits at a desk in a Nashville office wearing a three-piece suit and a $45,000 diamond-studded Rolex wristwatch. .
Reporters on the Job
• Uninvited to the Movies: Staff writer Dan Murphy's story is about social and cultural loosening up in Saudi Arabia (see story). But it's not a universal change, and certainly not one that everyone wants publicized. Dan tried to attend a screening of three short Saudi films in Riyadh. A friend, an avid movie buff, said the films would be shown at a small cultural center connected to the government, that there would be a mixed audience. and that the directors would be taking questions after. Perfect, said Dan. But when his Saudi friend picked him up, Dan was surprised to see him dressed in an ultraconservative Saudi robe and head scarf. Normally he wore Western casual clothes. "Well, it turns out they're nervous about a foreigner showing up," he told Dan. The change in garb was to help alleviate concerns.
Insurance law 'glitches' put lobbyists in mood to tweak
TALLAHASSEE - Florida's insurance industry lobbyists, unbent by the populist tide, are quietly asking lawmakers to rewrite parts of the January law that cleared the way for premiums to drop. "Just a small simple change," State Farm's Mark Delegal said at a meeting last week. "Just repeal House bill 1A." Delegal was joking. Sort of. The hurried pace of January's special session on insurance produced a new set of insurance regulations that even advocates say needs to be amended to eliminate technical errors. But insurance industry lobbyists are hoping that any "glitch fix" legislation will allow them to change elements of the law they find objectionable. Among the "glitches" they want to fix: - Ease the new requirement that claims be paid in 90 days.
Officials aim to cut rate of obesity
Mississippi taxpayers could foot the bill for stomach stapling and other weight-loss surgeries as early as 2008 if the operations are deemed affordable. The proposal is an effort to shrink the nation's most obese state and trim long-term health care costs for the state. .
Rodeo opens 50th season Friday
It was not supposed to work. Only when Neal Gay went broke believing it would, did most people think it would end.They were half right.The Mesquite Championship Rodeo opens its 50th season Friday. Neal Gay, the man who had a vision for a weekly rodeo in Mesquite, nearly did go broke and often was but his dream never died.Gay will return Friday to produce his 50th rodeo season in Mesquite, where his invention of a weekly rodeo has grown from a novel concept into a niche. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) sanctions 700 rodeos. Mesquite is the only weekly rodeo sanctioned."It was rough in those early years," said John Painter, spokesperson for the Mesquite Championship Rodeo. "There was no roof and no Interstate-635. Even then, though, it was the only thing there was with a western feel in Dallas.
Those who wield power in Texas consistently ignore greatest good ...
IDEALLY, the people's elected representatives should seek the greatest good for the greatest number, a prosperity that is more universal than exclusive, and a society that affords the least among its members a decent standard of living and care. In Texas, however, state government in recent years has careened in the opposite direction, catering to narrow private interests and nourishing partisan power at the expense of the general welfare. Examples abound: Confronted with an education system that leaves at least half of its children behind, the leadership in Austin spent years pursuing a congressional redistricting plan while many school districts starved as enrollment grew. As a result of the redistricting, Texas lost many of its senior members of Congress in the party that now controls both houses.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index: GEICO Ranks Tops in ...
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 29, 2007--GEICO took the top spot among property and casualty insurers for customer satisfaction in the 2006 American Customer Satisfaction Index survey conducted by the University of Michigan. The consumer survey showed that Americans are growing more satisfied with their shopping experiences in general and particularly when it comes to GEICO. GEICO's customer satisfaction rankings increased five points from 2005, moving the company to the top of the index. Bill Roberts, GEICO executive vice president, noted, "It is always GEICO's goal to provide the best service possible, so to be ranked number one by consumers is very rewarding. Our associates understand how important the service component is in all we do. We're very proud that they made this happen." Among other recent awards and honors for GEICO: -- The Kanbay Report: Indicates GEICO is highly responsive to customer needs and one that consumers want to do business with.
|
